CCIA files lawsuit against Florida law that bans social media access to children

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Computer & Communications Industry Association, or CCIA, filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the constitutionality of HB3, a Florida internet law that would restrict users’ access to lawful content as protected under the First Amendment.

"This social media law infringes on the First Amendment rights of both minors and adults by creating significant barriers to accessing online information that every American, including minors, has a right to see," CCIA Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff Stephanie Joyce said in a release.

In its challenge, CCIA argued the law requires 14- and 15-year-old minors to obtain parental consent before creating social media accounts, thus blocking their First Amendment rights. Popular social media websites include Facebook, Instagram, and X, which the association said unfairly target minors who use the websites regularly.

CCIA also listed additional reasons for the lawsuit below.

• It completely prohibits minors under the age of 14 from creating accounts on the websites it covers.

• It endangers adults’ access to lawful content by imposing harsh sanctions to punish websites when they are deceived into creating an account for a minor.

• It restricts the First Amendment rights of websites to display lawful content.

In March, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB3, which banned children under the age of 14 from becoming social media account holders. The legislation however allowed 14- and 15-year-olds to become account holders with parental consent.

“Social media harms children in a variety of ways,” DeSantis said. “HB 3 gives parents a greater ability to protect their children. Thank you to Speaker Renner for delivering this landmark legislation.”

Despite challenging HB3, CCIA acknowledged it supported enhanced protections for younger users online. They specifically noted allowing parents to decide which speech and websites their children could view, as well as digital monitoring tools to track their activities on the internet.

CCIA is a not-for-profit trade association representing a wide variety of communications and technology firms. According to its release, the association employs more than 1.6 million workers and has invested more than $100 billion in research while contributing trillions to the global economy for over 50 years.

"Protecting children online is an important goal that CCIA shares with legislators, and the far better way to ensure their protection is to give parents the information and tools they need to shield their children from unsuitable content, as digital services providers already have done for decades," Joyce added.